Engineers Without Borders Have Arrived!

On Saturday, March 13, a group of ten people arrived at ICBIE from the United States to begin their first phase of helping to develop and construct the ICBIE theater! There are seven students: Arielle Benjamin, Aaron Johnson, Helen O’Connor, Paige Piggott, Samantha Scott, Tiffany Smith, and Alanna Wallace, along with their mentors, Brian Stephenson and Margot Stephenson-Threatt with her daughter, Danielle Stephenson-Threatt.  They are very excited to be here, and will continue to blog about their time spent here for the week in Brasil.

Upon their arrival, they were greeted by Pietro Gallina and were almost immediately exposed to the works of ICBIE in the airport through the exhibit by Paranaguá, and were introduced to the works of the grafitti artists from ICBIE.  Then, taking the drive from the airport to Ribeira, the team was able to see the community, and once arriving at ICBIE, and after finally seeing the space that will be used for construction, they immediately saw the potential for great work to be done.

On Sunday, the team traveled to the city of Castro Alvez, and met with some members of the city council.  They visited the museum in the city, learning about the history of Castro Alvez and some Brasilian culture.  The team also helped the graffiti artists design two murals in the city and speak to many people to get an idea of what living in Brasil is like.

Yesterday, the team had its first meeting with one of the architects in Salvador to learn about the current laws to help with our design for the new space for ICBIE.  The team also asked questions about water supply for the new space, the needs for the new classrooms and space for capoeira and hapkido classes.  They also introduced their basic plans for the space, and will continue during the week to complete the plans for construction.

But it hasn’t been all work, because the team has really enjoyed going to the beach, or even just walking to the sorveteria for a late snack!  It’s safe to say that our 10 hour trip here so far has been worth it and more than we’ve asked for, and we look forward to building our relationship with ICBIE for years to come.  We are very excited and ready to get to work to helping this dream of a theater become a reality!

Ciao!